Ones to Watch | By Sabrina Davis

Dressed

Dressed,
a new Midtown Atlanta restaurant, is living up
to its name by serving
“Salads with Style.” Offering more
than 60 gourmet ingredients gives the salads certain
style, but equally important to chef and owner
Justin Smolev is the style evident in the atmosphere.
The restaurant’s sleek, urban, and elegant
design elevates customers’ expectations before
they reach the counter to order.

“I wanted to create a special experience,” says
Smolev, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute
who spent 10 years working in renowned restaurants
in New York and Napa Valley. “Everything
is just a little bit better than you would expect.”

The roughly 2,000-square-foot restaurant is decorated
in white, with bright green, orange, and silver
accents. There are white-stone countertops; translucent
green chairs; orange glass pendant lights; bright,
striking photography of vegetables by Lisa Jordan;
and high-gloss, diamond-ground concrete floors
thickly layered with epoxy.
“The floors are spectacular,” Smolev
says. “I get more comments about them than
anything. They look like a still lake.”

Groovy ambient music completes the atmosphere, setting
the stage for a sophisticated, culinary experience.
This is not your average salad.

“Food has always been my passion,” Smolev
says. “I want the customers to have the best
salad they can. We’re using very high-quality
ingredients. I’m really taking money out
of my pocket in doing that.” A major difference,
Smolev says, between his restaurant and many others
in the quickly growing salad category is that every
ingredient arrives in the restaurant raw. Meats
and vegetables are seasoned and cooked on-site,
and the dressings are made from scratch.

Most customers design their own salads, choosing
from five selections of greens and seven cheeses.
There are 67 toppings including almonds, asparagus,
edamame, dried cherries, falafel, Granny Smith
apples, potato sticks, snow peas, and walnuts,
to highlight a few. The Meat &
Non-Meat list includes chicken (grilled, Cajun,
or fried), steak, shrimp, tofu, and egg whites
among many others. Among the 25 dressings are Avocado,
Dijon Wasabi Ginger Vinaigrette, Chipotle Aioli,
and Blueberry Pomegranate Vinaigrette.

For customers who find the selection overwhelming,
there are 15 chef-designed salads. The top-seller
is the Five Star (grilled steak, grilled asparagus,
goat cheese, bacon, dried cherries, mesclun mix,
and baby spinach, topped with caramelized onion
vinaigrette) for $9.25.